Excantation Page 17

  “It’s amazing.” I meant it.

  “We need to walk some distance before we reach the appropriate Tree that will let us back down. And then it’ll mean some more conventional travel, as there are no tethers established on that Isle.”

  “Yeah, I figured.” I fell into step with her as she showed us the way, weaving around forest floor fauna and massive tree trunks. “I mean, the video and pictures that Richard brought back didn’t show any trees, just shrubby looking grass.”

  “Indeed, child. I fear the conditions in that land are not suitable for trees, hence its lack. It’s why I’m glad that you volunteered to go with me. Your aid will be invaluable here.” She turned to regard me, then glanced back at Klaus and Ciarán following us. “Did anyone make arrangements?”

  “Richard did. He’s got a boat chartered and waiting for us on Prince of Wales Island in Nunavut. Aisling told him there was a Tree on the island?”

  “Indeed there is. The Inuit granted one of mine to plant a few trees there, in return for their protection of a tethered Tree. The agreement has worked out quite well.”

  “Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t the Inuit living in areas where trees are rather rare? What did you plant that could survive such harsh conditions?”

  “Spruce and Hemlock do quite well there, and that’s largely what we planted. The trees you see here are Hemlock, in fact.”

  We fell to talking about how the arrangements with the Inuit came into being—turned out it was well before Columbus ever got on a ship—and what all that entailed, which was a very interesting story that I was certain never made it into a history book. I tried to take really good mental notes because Nana would be highly upset she’d missed this conversation.

  The forest wrapped around us, alive with the sounds of woodland animals and leaves rustling in a light breeze. It was definitely an enchanted place, and I could see the magical influence in every piece of bark. I knew I’d go home after this and try to draw it, recapture this very moment. And never be able to quite manage it.

  Eventually, she found the Tree she wanted and we walked seven times around it, descending back down to solid Earth once more. It was a very different look and feel than the lush forest I’d just left. For one thing, much colder. If it was over fifty degrees, I’d eat both of my shoes. I now understood why Klaus insisted I bring a jacket with me and promptly put it on.

  We were on a shoreline now, the forest of spruce and hemlock very thick here, but it ended abruptly at a sandy beach that overlooked still water. I assumed this to be the ocean, even though it almost looked like a lake at first glance. I could barely see the land on the other side. If Inuit lived here, there was no sign I could see.

  Ciarán gave us a nod, like there was some prearranged thing, and shifted to a raven before taking off into the sky and flying south. I watched him go and then belatedly realized that he’d gone to fetch the boat for us rather than have us walk through forest for however many hours. He’d be much faster flying and then coming to get us.

  I’d be very glad to have a Door in place on Devon Island so we could skip this weird, random method of getting there.

  I heard the splash of an oar in the water and turned to see a woman and child in a kayak. They waved in greeting.

  Brigid waved back with a broad smile. “Ai!”

  “Tunngahugit, Brigid!” the woman returned and promptly made for the shore.

  I found this greeting interesting and asked sotto voce, “Brigid, do you come here often?”

  “Every century or so, I pass through here,” she answered with a small shrug. “Every generation seems able to recognize me. They have a very strong tradition of mythology and storytelling, that’s likely why.”

  That, and she really couldn’t be mistaken for anyone else. Made sense.

  The woman brought the kayak to shore with an audible scrape as the hull went over the small pebbles and sand. The child—a little girl, it looked like—hopped deftly out of the front and helped tug it more securely onto land while the other woman got out, and then they brought the kayak in far enough so the water couldn’t sweep it back out. She came toward us with a bright smile and an awed expression.

  “I am Amka,” she introduced. “This is my daughter, Kirima. Brigid, you bless us by visiting. You were last here in my grandmother’s time.”

  “Yes, I believe I was.”

  Amka spoke respectfully to Brigid. “Our trees still grow strong and healthy. They offer protection from the wind and warmth on dark nights. We are grateful still for your gift and honor your Tree.”

  “I am happy to see them so healthy.” Brigid turned and introduced us with a graceful gesture. “This is Imagineer Reagan Hunt and her kobold, Klaus. We’ve come to build a new Hub on Devon Island. I am to plant another Tree there.”

  Amka’s expression lit up and her body language became more animated, hands gesturing. “This is amazing news! We’ve heard many complaints from those that wished to travel and could not. We will tell them the Imagineers are rebuilding. Imagineer Hunt, you are welcome in these lands.”

  I had a feeling that wasn’t said all that often and appreciated it. “Thank you very much. Amka, can I ask you if there are platforms up here? We are struggling to find all of the old platforms, you see, and it’s my job to fix them.”

  “Yes, there are several. Will you come and have a mid-day meal with us?”

  I was totally okay with making more friends but wasn’t sure what everyone else thought of this. I looked to my two companions for an answer.

  Without waiting on me, Brigid flashed that goddess smile of hers. “Certainly. We’ll need to wait on our companion, at any rate. And I can show Reagan my trees.”

  Trees were very important to her. I’d gathered that much and put the appropriate expression on my face. “Sure, love to see what you’ve done up here.”

  Amka led the way along the shoreline, leaving the canoe where it was. The ground wasn’t exactly hard here, sand and gravel mixed in, so I had to watch my footing. Hopefully there was a road or something nearby.

  Amka’s daughter trailed after, as we all did, but Kirima proved to be both chatty and curious. She kept right at my side and asked, “What’s an Imagineer?”

  How to explain in ten words or less. Uhhh. “You’ve heard of witches and sorcerers, right?”

  Kirima nodded sagely. “The ones with magic. And the hats.”

  Close enough. “I’m kind of like that. Only I don’t have the hat. I can create anything I can imagine.”

  “Oh.” She ruminated on that for a full second. “Like what?”

  I really should have expected that follow-up question. “Literally anything, as long as it’s not over six layers. For instance—what’s your favorite animal?”

  “Seals!”

  “So, if I wanted to make a stuffed seal…” I paused for a moment, imagining this in my mind’s eye, the shape and texture and size of it, all the layers culminating into one thing in my head. “Seal.”

  It landed in my hands, a stuffed seal about the size of a large pumpkin. I handed it to her and she squealed in delight, holding it close to her chest and beaming at me like I’d just performed magic of the ages. It was a nice stroke to the ego, I must admit.

  “Oh, Imagineer Hunt, you didn’t have to do that,” Amka protested, but she was smiling too.

  I waved this off. “It took only a thought on my part. And she understands now what I mean.”

  Kirima bounced on her toes. “Can I be an Imagineer too?!”

  That stumped me for a second. “I guess we’ll see? I didn’t figure it out until I was almost seventeen. That’s pretty typical, or so I’m told.”

  Kirima, as all children did, heard precisely what she wanted to and nothing else. “I’m going to be an Imagineer when I grow up!”

  Her mother smiled at her indulgently. “Of course you are. Let’s not keep our guests waiting.”

  The tree line appeared abruptly. We moved from the relative warmth of
the sun into the coolness of shade. And it wasn’t really warm up here to begin with. I shivered as we walked in. Brigid chose to pause here and there, her hand on a tree’s trunk, and I swear it was just like she was checking in with old friends. Hey, how are, Tree? Water good up here? Yeah? How’s the weather and the fam? Good, glad to hear it. That kind of vibe.

  Eventually we reached a town—village? I don’t know the right word for it. It was small, maybe fifty buildings altogether. The buildings weren’t big, for the most part—one or two stories—but they were all colored in bright golds or blues or even turquoise. It created quite the sight against the backdrop of a grey sky and evergreen trees.

  People were out and about on their own business. I didn’t see many cars parked. They seemed to walk around with wheeled wagons trailing behind them. Which made sense, when the town was this small. It started out as a wave. One person noticed Brigid, then another, and they started for us with bright smiles on their faces. I hung back a bit as Brigid greeted them, holding hands, rubbing cheeks with people as if she greeted friends. To her, they likely were.

  Klaus leaned into my side and murmured, “I never would have expected this, that she was known and loved on the opposite side of the world from her own people.”

  “She definitely gets around, doesn’t she?” I did agree it was strange. Strange, but kind of wonderful she’d reached out to the other people in the world. Brigid was good people.

  Someone called for us to come into a building and sit, and we did. It was right along the shoreline because, of course, this was a fishing village and was smack on the water. The bright red building was a restaurant, and a portly man hustled out of the kitchen with arms outstretched, a bright smile on his round face. “Brigid! You honor us with your visit.”

  “Thank you.” Brigid waved to me and Klaus. “I’m here as an escort for them, in fact. This is Imagineer Hunt and her guardian kobold, Klaus. We are traveling through here to rebuild the Hub.”

  “This is good news for all,” he said with a bob of the head. “I’m Kanaaq, mayor of the town. You are welcome. Please, sit, let me fix you something. We’ve fresh halibut from this morning, and tea brewing.”

  My mouth watered. Yes, please.

  “Sounds lovely,” Brigid assured him in her genteel way. “Imagineer Hunt wishes to consult with you about the platforms in this area.”

  “Oh, I’m not one to know. But Nanouk, he’s our ranger up here. He’ll know precisely where they are. I’ll call him for you. Please, sit, be at your ease.”

  It wasn’t hard to do. The diner was cute, like something from the fifties, in a way. I sat at one of the wooden tables, letting my backpack rest on the floor next to me. A very shy girl about my age brought us a pitcher of water and glasses, which I was glad to see, as I was beyond thirsty.

  People filtered in and just sat, watching us, which wasn’t exactly comfortable. I bet they didn’t get many visitors up here to begin with, and here I was in the company of a goddess and a kobold. Had to be one for the records. Still, mighty strange to be the focus of attention.

  It was a relief when a very trim, fit man entered and came straight toward us. He was rather handsome, actually, with a patrician nose and dark hair falling loosely around his shoulders. He’d rolled up the sleeves of his dark green shirt at some point, and he’d clearly been in the middle of doing something because there was mud on his boots and jeans. Ranger, yeah, I could see that.

  Amka stood and caught his attention. “Nanouk, this is Brigid.”

  Brigid stood to greet him, touching her cheeks to both of his. “You are one who takes care of my trees.”

  “I am,” Nanouk greeted in a mellow tenor. “Thank you for gifting them. They’ve helped us tremendously.”

  She beamed at him, which made him blush a little. “I will come back a little later, I think, and give you more. But for today, our purpose is to rebuild the Hub on a neighboring island. And to learn where your platforms are in this area. I’m afraid that information has been lost. This is Reagan Hunt, an Imagineer, and she is tasked with this.”

  I stood and offered a hand. “Hi.”

  Nanouk took it with a firm grip, looking at me curiously. “Hello, and welcome. Just you?”

  “Good grief, no, there’s a whole team of us,” I assured him hastily. “Not just little ol’ me. But I’m supposed to come up, figure out where to put things, and help Brigid plant an Alder Tree up here. Get the ball rolling. If you can tell me even approximately where the old platforms are, that’ll be super helpful.”

  “I can tell you precisely where they are.”

  I loved competent people. I had a map of Canada on me—I’d packed one the night before, as I wanted to get an answer to the platforms today if I could—and I reached into my backpack to fetch it. Then I stretched it out in my hands for him to see. “Point them out for me?”

  “Of course.” Nanouk came in closer and pointed to the tip of this island, much further north than where we stood. “Here is one.”

  Klaus, bless him, pulled a pen from somewhere and marked that for me with an x.

  “I am told there is one near here.” He indicated to the far west, near Prudhoe Bay. Then his finger traveled east and south, toward Baffin Island’s eastern shore. “And here, south of Kipsia. I’ve not seen those with my own eyes, but that’s what our reports say.”

  “That is awesome, thank you. We knew there were three over here on the far edge of Canada, but there’s no records surviving of exactly where.”

  “You are welcome. There will be those who come to fix them?”

  “Uh, yeah, that will be me.” I shrugged as I folded the map back up. “I’m probably not the only Imagineer with the job, but everyone else is really busy right now trying to plan the new Hub, and I know how to fix the platforms. So, I get to start.”

  Brigid interceded, “If you will guide her, Nanouk?”

  “It’ll be my honor to do so.” Nanouk looked relieved I was coming up, which told me something about the situation up here.

  “Thanks! It’s not going to be an immediate thing. Expect me in a few weeks, okay?”

  “We will.”

  “And for that, I am glad,” Brigid returned. “You’ve taken good care of all of my trees and have honored our agreement. Tell your elders I’m grateful for it.”

  “I believe you can tell them yourself. They are coming to speak with you.”

  Yeah, that didn’t surprise me. Well, it did. The Inuit, they were strange Nixes. Most people who weren’t magical had no idea about the world around them. The magical world, I should say. But the Inuit were far more in sync than any other culture I’d come across. They believed readily in the magical world and were plugged into it. It was kind of refreshing, honestly, to be around people who knew what was going on. Instead of me guarding every other word out of my mouth.

  The elders arrived, moving slowly with age. Brigid stood to greet them. I got introduced, but it was Brigid they really wanted to talk to. I needed to start writing down things in a journal. Blog. Something. I kept meeting people that future generations of Imagineers really needed to know about. If not for Brigid, I’d not have met any of the Inuit today, and that would have slowed my progress down considerably. Not to mention it would have stepped on toes because I wouldn’t have thought to introduce myself to anyone up here.

  I took a moment as Brigid did her meet-and-greet and pulled out a notebook, recording things like names. I sucked at remembering people’s names. Then I marked on the map where Amka said her home was, as I trusted my brain to remember precisely nothing. And then, since we were still waiting on lunch and Ciarán, I wrote everything Brigid told me on the walk here.

  Lunch arrived and let me tell you, Alaskan halibut freshly caught? Mouth-wateringly delicious. I ate two and felt no guilt about it. I spoke to people, asking questions and getting questions in return, enjoying the process of making a few friends. The kids especially were wildly curious about me. I may have made another dozen seals lik
e Kirima’s because she was busy showing it off to absolutely everyone who would glance her direction.

  After an hour, though, I started to worry. Ciarán should have caught up to us by now, right? He’d been gone a good two hours at this point, as it had taken a while for us to walk here and get settled in.

  Klaus was finishing off lunch next to me but caught my worried glance. “What?”

  “Do you think Ciarán is confused on where we were? We didn’t tell him we were coming into town.”

  “Ah. A valid point.”

  “He’s got his phone on him, right?”

  “He does.” Klaus started to pull his phone out then grimaced when one of the kids got rambunctious.

  Not that it was quiet in here. People were chattering and it had gotten rather noisy. I waved him down, assuring, “I’ll call him. I’ll step outside so he can hear me. Be back in a minute.”

  “Alright.”

  I slipped out of the restaurant and called my favorite pooka. He answered on the third ring, the noise of the engine a hum in the background. “Hey, Ciarán.”

  “Speak up, I can’t hear you!”

  Probably not. Maybe I should text him? I walked away from the restaurant door, heading out so people wouldn’t think I was yelling at them. “I said, hey! You looking for us?”

  “Yeah, where are you?”

  “We’re in the fishing town around the bend!” And that wasn’t helpful—he didn’t know what I was talking about. I looked around and spied the wharf nearby jutting out over the water. Maybe I should stand over there so he could see me. “Follow the shoreline up, go left!”

  “Are you much further north?”

  “Not a lot. We only walked about thirty minutes to get up here.” I stopped at the edge of the wharf, looking out over the water. I didn’t see or hear any trace of him, but that didn’t mean much. I assumed he was going in the right direction.

  “Coming up. I see the canoe. Past it?”

  “Yeah.” Oh good, he was coming the right direction.

  “Things going well?”

  “Sure! I had to give the kids about a dozen seals, but we’re all friends now!”